Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting New Kifaru Timberline sizes are live.

Yep, the extra sewing and UL stays make the price of the packs increase pretty quickly. The material isn't any different, but the labor is where the money goes too.

Don't get me wrong, they are pricey, but my Timberline 1 is on it's 19th pack out this season and is still looking like new, so the K packs will last a long time and backed by a great company.

And here I thought the 17 critters I have helped pack out this year was something.

If Kifaru can offer some discount for loyal customer that will be great.
Ha..ha.. Dreaming

In analyzing the features of the Timberline packs compared to the rest of Kifaru�s pack offerings I believe the price of the Timberlines are in line with the price of other Kifaru packs. Here is my analysis of a T3:

As allheart correctly pointed out the T3 is basically a spike camp with exterior pockets. So if you configure a spike camp in a similar way how much would it cost?

Spike Camp -----------------------------------$364.00
Composite Stays -------------------------------$40.00
2 500D long pockets ($44 apiece)---------------$88.00
1 500D Mid long (to match T2 front pockets) ---$43.00

Total -----------------------------------------$535.00

But a Spike camp or Express configured this way is still not equivalent to T3. The T3 has some additional features:

1. Ability to support 24� stays. This is a deal breaker for tall people who need functional load lifters

2. Upgraded waist belt and lumbar pad (Wraptech versus Omni).

3. Double layer of Cordura on bottom of pack versus single for the Spike camp.

4. Additional attachment points such as the Hunter PALS matrix.

Another advantage the T3 has over a �configured� Spike camp or Express is weight:

Spike Camp ------------------------------ 4 lbs 2oz
Subract weight for using composite stays------ -5 oz
Add weight for two 500D long pockets--------- 18 oz
Add weight for 500D Mid long pocket----------- 8 oz

Total weight of configured Spiked camp----- 5 lbs 7 oz
Total weight of T3 -------------------------4lbs 9.5 oz

If you browse the Kifaru forum you will find that a number people configure their Spike camps and Expresses in a fashion similar fashion to what I've shown and use them for overnight trips.

You can break it down anyway you want too but they are still spendy.

Ain't that the truth Big_W. I have no doubt most of us could do all the hunting we needed to do with a simple LL Bean external frame:
http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/6439...107999-_-productname_link&qs=3000086

and dry sacks. But thats half the fun. Finding what works for us and what not. What else we gonna do once the seasons are winding down but cuss/discuss what we like best.

If we all tried hard enough we can justify anything we buy for backpacking and hunting.

I have been thinking about getting a ULA Catalyst for a while now. I believe their packs are made 100% in the USA out of Logan, Utah. Their top of the line ultralite packs are all under $300 and you don't have to shell out your money and wait 2 months for them to be built.

Sounds like a fun project to test out. Be interested in what ya think of it. Wouldn't be my first pick for heavy hauling a critter out of the woods, but so long as it works and you like it....who cares!!